Western Front
Cambrai: Skirmishing at Poelcapelle, near Epehy: German troops at Ypres launch a raid against half-mile line of British trenches and succeeds in capturing 30 prisoners.
Verdun: Skirmishing at Caurieres Wood.
British soldier with his pet dog on the Western Front: © IWM (Q 10597):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...268841110171648
Southern Front
First Battle of the Piave (until December 30): Franz Conrad’s final attempt to break through before winter snows, promises soldiers winter at Bassano in plains below and Christmas Mass in Venice. After hurricane shelling including gas (by 550 guns) Austrian Eleventh Army captures Col del Rosso (4183ft), Mt Melago and 3 other features in the Monte Buso Valley; after a 2-mile advance, they claim 9,000 PoWs until December 24.
Austrian 10.4cm Langrohrkanone on the Italian Front firing gas shells. The crew wears gas masks:
https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...anone.jpg?ssl=1
Naval and Overseas Operations
Irish Channel: Armed boarding steamer H.M.S.
Stephen Furness sunk by submarine; six officers and 95 men lost.
North Sea: 3 Harwich Force destroyers on Dutch convoy duty (
Torrent,
Surprise and
Tornado) blunder into German minefield and sink north of Maas Light Buoy, 252 lives lost. Flotilla leader
Valkyri gets home with broken back. Surviving destroyer
Radiant rescues survivors.
Political, etc
Germany: The Kaiser, visiting Second Army on Western Front, says the events of 1917 are proof the Almighty is a German ally.
France: Former French Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux loses immunity after the Chamber of Deputies votes 417 to 2 to revoke it. Caillaux will now be tried for treason.
Anglo-French Paris Convention on spheres of influence in Southern Russia (British War Cabinet approve on December 26).
Belgium: Text of the declaration by the Council of Flanders, nominally supported by the German occupation of Belgium:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...253750692270086